Ask AC: Is it safe to use the Amazon App Store?

Amazon is in a tough spot because of Google's "all or nothing" Unknown sources setting.

Since we're all fairly concerned about mobile security on a personal and professional level, we recommend that the phone in your pocket and full of your personal data has a locked bootloader and "Unknown sources" left unchecked. If you find a trusted app that needs to be sideloaded, disable the setting again once you've installed it. It's the last barricade between your data and an app that hasn't been vetted for safety.

Because we take this stance, more than a few folks have written in with the same question:

Is it safe to use the Amazon App Store? It requires Unknown sources be enabled.

First, thanks to everyone who asked. We love it when folks try to get the answers they need and try to help as much as we can.

The Amazon App Sore is a dilemma. The problem is that it can update apps over-the-air like Google Play or the Apple AppStore but to do this in needs the Unknown sources setting to be enabled. That means if you did sideload a nasty app that wants to install other, possible nastier, apps you let them try it. That's what Unknown sources is — it allows sideloading of apps that didn't come from Google Play and have the right signature.

Amazon does a good (4 stars; would buy again) job vetting the apps they put in their store. Apps must be approved before they are published — the same method Apple uses — and so far, we haven't heard of any slipping through the cracks and being harmful in any way. While Google has no public opinion of Amazon and their ventures with Android, BlackBerry has embraced them and it's an approved way to run Android apps on BlackBerry 10 devices. Their store is safe, and the apps you download from them are safe.

The hard part is offering a suggestion that works for everyone in this case. There just isn't one. As much as I hate to do it, this one gets two answers.

If you're a casual Android user — you don't read blogs every day or fiddle with settings and tweaks on your phone — leave the unknown sources box unchecked and skip the Amazon App Store. You'll find most of the apps in Google Play, and there's a good chance they will be a more recent version. This isn't fair to Amazon because they do run a tight ship, but that's just how Android works. This setting is an all-or-nothing thing.

If you are an enthusiast-type, go for it. Either manually toggle the setting when your phone tells you there's some sort of update, or run wide open and use good judgment for every app your download and install. You know the risks, and you own the hardware, so do what you please with it. Just be careful. Do it for old Uncle Jerry.

All this is more of a precaution that a reaction to anything. Malware isn't unheard of on Android, but the numbers you hear from companies who make money selling you security apps aren't quite as sensational when you consider the scale — there are about 1,600,000,000 Androids out there. And that's only counting the ones that have Google services installed. 10,000 is 0.000625% of the install base, and even 1,000,000 is less than 1%. But there's always a chance some crafty guy or gal can find a way to get your stuff. Do everything you can to keep your stuff safe.

How to adjust screen brightness and sleep settings on Android

On top of changing your phone's brightness, you can also customize the sleep settings, which allows you to choose how long it takes for your screen to shut when you're not using it. Here's how to adjust your brightness and sleep settings.

How to adjust your screen brightness on Android

Swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal the Notification Shade. Depending on which Android phone you have, you may have to swipe twice.

Tap and hold the brightness slider. It's the icon that looks like the sun.

Drag the brightness slider to your desired brightness.

Release the slider.

How to turn off Adaptive brightness on Android

Adaptive brightness gives your phone the ability to adjust the screen brightness automatically depending on the amount of light around you. The setting is typically on by default, but it's easy to turn off if you want to.

Swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal the Notification Shade. Depending on which Android phone you have, you may have to swipe twice.

Tap on the settings button. It's the gear icon in the top right.

Tap Display.

Tap the On/Off switch beside Adaptive brightness.

You can follow these exact steps to turn the adaptive brightness setting back on whenever you need.

How to turn on Ambient display on Android

Enabling Ambient display allows you to view the time and notifications on your lock screen without having to press the power or home buttons.

Swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal the Notification Shade. Depending on which Android phone you have, you may have to swipe twice.

Tap on the settings button. It's the gear icon in the top right.

Tap Display.

Tap the On/Off switch beside Ambient display.

Follow the same steps to turn off Ambient display whenever you want.

How to change the sleep settings on Android

Swipe down from the top of the screen to reveal the Notification Shade. Depending on which Android phone you have, you may have to swipe twice.

Pokémon Go Medals: How to unlock bronze, silver and gold for everything!

They're mostly for rubbing in everyone's face, which is why you need all of them!

The Medal system in Pokémon Go is a little self serving for the moment. You don't gain anything by unlocking them, aside from a little note in your account saying you've unlocked them. That means there's a list of accomplishments you and your friends can compete on unlocking, and obviously the one with the most Medals unlocked is the best Pokémon Go player right?

Every Pokémon Go medal comes in Bronze, Silver, and gold. Here's what you need to do in order to unlock each of these Medals!

How much mobile data does Pokémon Go use?

Pokémon Go is a really fun game, and part of what makes it so interesting is the fact that you need to go outside and move around to play it effectively. That of course means you'll be out of the range of your home Wi-Fi network, using up mobile data as you walk around. Some "tricks" like downloading offline maps in Google Maps won't actually save you any data usage (though it's a great feature for Maps!), and unfortunately the Pokémon Go app itself can't really limit data usage much.

But if you're looking to cut down on the amount of data you're using overall when out-and-about playing Pokémon Go, we're here to help!

How to play Pokémon Go

Here's how to download, install, and quickly begin playing Pokémon Go!

Pokémon Go is everywhere, and that's no accident! It's a fun, free game that's accessible to anyone, in any city. But getting started with the game takes a bit of setup, so here's what you need to know.

How to download and install Pokémon Go from the Play Store

Downloading Pokémon Go is easy! Some Android phones may see different login options or icon placements depending on the type of device, but these instructions should apply to most people.

Pokémon Go Android settings you need to know

Welcome back, Pokémon! We've been waiting ever so patiently. Well, not patiently, if we're being completely honest. Now that Pokémon Go lives on your Android device, you need to know how to navigate the settings before jumping in and playing the game.

Accessing the Main Menu

Tap the Main Menu button. It's the Poké Ball at the bottom of your screen.

Tap Settings at the top right.

Tap the menu item you wish to select.

Music

The music is enabled by default, so don't be alarmed when you head out to play and you suddenly have your own Junichi Masuda soundtrack accompanying your walk. You can toggle it off here.

Sound Effects

The game sound effects are enabled by default, and as awesome as they are, you may not always want them on. You can toggle them off here.

Vibrations

Vibrations are enabled by default, and they are useful for letting you know about nearby Pokémon. But if you don't want them, they can be toggled off here.

Battery Saver

This is your battery life optimization feature. The reality is that this game is going to drain your battery mighty quickly. While the Battery Saver is enabled, your display will be disabled when your device is pointed downward. You'll still be able to track distance in this mode, and you will continue to be notified if Pokémon are nearby.

There is a third thing you can do to help secure your Google account, and this one also is a cover-your-butt backup in case you lose your phone — and the authenticator app you installed on it. We're talking about USB Security Keys. They're relatively cheap (starting at about $10), easy to set up and can get you into your Google account from any computer anywhere.

Ask AC: What do I need to do when I change my SIM card?

Going to change your SIM card? It's usually simple, but here are a couple of things to know before you look for a paperclip.

Todd from Belfast writes in:

"I travel a lot with my new job, and the company doesn't like us to use the issued phone for personal calls and texts. Is there anything I need to know when I'm changing the SIM card on my LG Android phone?"

Hi, Todd! Changing your SIM card is mostly a plug and play affair. Chances are that all you need to do is shut the phone off, pull out the old one and pop in the new. You really don't need to shut the phone off if you know how to manually refresh your network connection. But turning things off is usually easier because a reboot is quick and simple. When you reboot, it should just work. But there are a couple things you should know and keep in the back of your mind whilst you're plugging and playing.

Some phones, like the single-SIM version of the Samsung Galaxy S7, the LG G5 and many others, share a single slot for both the SIM card and the SD card. When you pop out the tray, be ready for two little things that can get lost easier than you think to come out with it. If your phone is similar, and the SD card will pop out along with the SIM card, you need to either unmount the SD card or just shut the phone off. I suggest the latter.

Your phone may not have the right APN (Access Point Name) programmed in the system. If you can't get a connection, or can't send or receive texts, or your data speeds are 2009 slow you need to check out the settings. We have a complete walkthrough for that if you need it.

Your phone needs to be unlocked. We don't mean the bootloader or root or Cyanogen or anything of the sort, we're talking about network unlocked. If you bought your phone direct from a carrier — especially in North America — it could be locked to their network. If this is the case, you'll not be able to add a new APN or change to another APN, and nothing is going to work. You can talk to your carrier or use a third-party unlocking service to "fix" it.

These are worst case scenario type things. Usually, just shutting your phone off and changing the SIM card will do the trick as long as the phone itself has support for the network you're trying to use. But it's always good to know the what-ifs!

How to save and screenshot Snapchat Snaps on Android

How do I save my Snapchat snaps? This is how. (And it's about to get even easier.)

Snapchat has become a social media art form, so it's no surprise that people want to preserve their Snapchat artistry. Saving your snaps is a lot easier than you may think, so here's how to capture and save your snap without having to screenshot yourself.

Note: Snapchat recently announced Memories — a new way to save your Snaps and Stories. We'll update this post once the feature has rolled out.

How to save your Snapchats on Android

Launch Snapchat from your home screen or the app drawer.

Either take a new Snap, or open one you've already done.

Tap the download button on the bottom left of your screen. It looks like an open box with a downward-facing arrow.

A prompt will appear at the bottom of the screen letting you know that your video or picture has been saved to your Android phone's gallery.

How to save other people's Snapchats on Android

Launch Snapchat from your home screen or from the app drawer.

Swipe right to your chat page.

Tap on the snap to open it.

Take a screenshot of the image or video. The way you take a screenshot will depend on your phone, but it's usually a combination of the power and volume buttons.

Fair warning

Every time you go to take a screenshot of a video or photo that's been sent to you, Snapchat will automatically inform the person on the other end that you saved their snap via a notification and a screenshot icon. While this may not seem like a huge thing, it actually makes saving other people's snaps nearly impossible.

Some people have taken to using screen recorders to save other people's snaps, while others will use a separate phone altogether to quickly take a photo of other people's Snapchat's.

Don't bother trying to delay the screenshot notification by turning off Wi-Fi or your mobile data either – the person on the other end will eventually get that screenshot notification no matter what.

I rooted my Nexus 5X for themes, and here's what I learned

That may not sound quite right for a themer, but I do. I well and truly do love simple. That's why I loved Motorola's phones and the Nexus approach to Android. But there are limits to what you can do in the simple sandbox, while your bootloader is locked and your phone is stock. You can replace your launcher, but you can't replace the blinding white in all the Google apps. You can't bring back that seek bar in the Play Music notification you've missed for two years. And you can't get into the nitty gritty details of choosing how your Android system looks and behaves. For that, you need complete control of your device.

How to install and set up Authy for two-factor authentication on your Android

Using two-factor authentication is a great way to protect yourself and your data. It's also fairly easy to do once you get used to having an extra step when you first use an account on your Android. Using it on multiple devices is easy with Authy.

There are several great apps you can use on your phone to get a 2FA (that's the abbreviation for two-factor authentication and it's much easier to type) token when you need one, and if you have multiple things with a screen that may need access to 2FA codes, Authy is pretty hard to beat. After you set up an Authy account, you can install the app on all your Android devices and any computer that has the Chrome web browser and the Authy extension installed. The first thing you need to do is install the Authy app from Google Play on a phone with a working SIM card.

How to recover lost Google contacts for Android

If you think you've somehow lost all of your Google contacts on your Android phone, don't sweat. The Google account associated with your Android device (that you likely set up when you set up your phone) keeps a handy backup for just such an occasion.

If your Google account is synced with your phone, then you should be able to restore a backup of all of your contacts as far back as 30 days. You'll just have to access and restore things via your computer. Here's how.

How to recover lost Google contacts for Android

You would've had to enter all of your contacts into your Gmail account for this to work. Google won't retrieve contents stored on your SIM card.

How to back up your Android

Losing your stuff is no fun. Neither is trying to get it all back on a new phone. Here are some tips to make it easier to keep everything important backed up.

We keep a lot of things on our phones. We have pictures and videos, details about the people we know, schedules and important dates and more. Many of us depend on our phones to help keep track of a good part of our daily lives. With all this stuff stored in one portable place, it can be a disaster if we lose it all. Some of us have been there — our phones were lost or stolen or broken. It's not fun to try and sort it all out on a new phone, Not fun at all. That's why it's important to try and copy everything in another place and keep a backup of your important data.

How to turn off Facebook Live notifications

We've all seen what fireworks look like. This Fourth of July, do yourself a favor and disable Facebook Live notifications.

Good news, everyone! Facebook has made it easier than ever to broadcast what you're doing, live. Bad news, everyone! Facebook has made it easier than ever to broadcast what you're doing, live. And the thing about live video is that it's pointless if nobody's watching. So Facebook makes sure that you get a notification every damn time one of your friends (or a page that you follow) goes live.

Other times, it's downright awful. Holidays such as the Fourth of July here in the U.S. are one of those times. We've all seen fireworks before. Many of us will be out watching them, live. (Like, in-person.) So the last thing we need is 200 notifications of other people broadcasting their own fireworks experiences over relatively low resolution.

(Note that this only works from the full Facebook site, not m.facebook.com (which your phone will try to send you to), or from within the Facebook app.)

Here's how to to turn off Facebook Live notifications:

Go to your Facebook settings. Drill down to Settings>Notifications>On Facebook.

Note that this only works from the full Facebook site, not m.facebook.com (which your phone will try to send you to), or from within the Facebook app.

Alternatively, if you just want to kill Facebook Live notifications from a single person or page, you can do so from within the notifications themselves. Just long-press on the person you want to squelch, and then choose whether to dismiss that single notification, or to turn off all notifications of live videos from that person.

Unless you absolutely hate any use of Facebook Live, we might suggest not turning off these notifications permanently. While they might get annoying when you've got groups of friends all showing the same thing (and the same thing that you yourself might be doing), you might well miss something interesting other times.

How to back up photos and video to your computer or the cloud

You have all these awesome photos and video on your phone, but what happens when you decide to buy a new phone or your storage becomes too full to take any more? Back it all up to your computer or the cloud!

There are a couple incredibly easy-to-use apps that let you store your photos and videos in the cloud or download them to keep forever.

How to back up your photos and videos to the cloud or your computer using Google Photos

Google Photos now comes standard on many an Android phone and it's a great way to store photos on your phone or to seamlessly upload them to Google Drive. If you don't have it, it's a free download in the Google Play Store.

Once it's downloaded, you just have to allow Google Photos access to your photo and video library, tap Backup and Sync and all of the photos and video on your phone will appear for you back up, share, and even edit!

How to back up your photos and video to the cloud using Google Photos

Launch Google Photos from your home screen or from the app drawer.

Tap the photo you'd like to upload to Google Drive or tap and hold a photo and select multiple photos to upload.

Tap the share button at the top of the screen. It's a right-facing 'V' with dots on each point.

Click the more button on the upper right of your screen. It looks like three vertical dots.

Click Download.

The photo(s) or video will now save to the downloads folder on your computer. You can do this with as many items as your computer's hard drive will hold. It may then be a good idea to transfer them to an external hard drive for safekeeping.

How to back up photos and video to the cloud or your computer using Dropbox

Dropbox is a free app that gives you up to 2GB of online storage for free. You can't go wrong with double-free! All you need to do is create an account, download the app on your phone and on your computer, and you're ready to start backing up your photos and video to both the cloud and your computer.

How to back up photos and video to the cloud using Dropbox

You'll first need to sign up for and create an account with Dropbox on your computer.

Launch your web browser on your computer.

Navigate to Dropbox.com.

Click create an account.

Enter your first name, last name, and email address into the fields. You can also choose to Sign up with Google.

Click the checkbox to agree to the terms and conditions.

Click Create an account.

Click the Free Download button to install Dropbox on your computer.

Next, you'll want to install and set up Dropbox on your Android phone if it isn't already. Then you can upload photos and video until your folder is full! Here's how:

Your photos and video will now be uploaded to your Dropbox folder, which you can access from just about any device with an internet connection.

How to backup photos and video to your computer using Dropbox

Launch the Dropbox app on your computer or visit dropbox.com.

Sign in if you're not signed in automatically.

Click the photo or video you'd like to download to your computer.

Click Download in the top righthand corner of your screen.

The photo(s) and video will now appear in your downloads folder on your computer. Now they're yours to do with as you like! If you'd really like to save them, it's probably a good idea to back them up again to an external hard drive.

If you're using the Dropbox app on your computer, you can just open the file and save it like you would any other document.